Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Call for Directors, and New Board Member!

CCT with 2nd Flight Theater Company is currently seeking directors for our 2010 season. Directors should fill out the director application (including the show you are interested in directing) by SATURDAY, JULY 18TH. The shows will be selected on August 1st, and the interview process will take place during the first half of August. Please go to www.cct2ft.com to download the application.

The timeslots for the shows are as follows:
Winter Play, 3 weekends in February, 2010 (approximate dates)
Summer Musical, 3 weekends in June, 2010 (approximate dates)
Fall Play, 3 weekends in October, 2010 (approximate dates)

There's been a bit of confusion about this, I think, so I'm going to try to explain a bit. We're looking for shows AND directors -- so if you are interested in directing for us, submit your application including the show you have in mind. We will be selecting shows first, and will consider all shows that are submitted with director applications, as well as shows that members of the board suggest.

Once we've chosen our shows, we'll call directors who have submitted applications to begin the interview process.

If you'd be interested in directing a show other than the show you have submitted for consideration, please indicate so on your application.

Next, we have a new board member! Please welcome Michael Schaaff as our new Director of Communications! We're excited to have Michael on board, and we know he will be a fabulous addition to the team :)

Friday, June 19, 2009

Closing Weekend and RoboMike

The set has been struck, the instruments have been packed away, and the lobby has been cleaned up after a very successful run of Flight of the Lawnchair Man.

Slacker board member that I am, I was unable to actually see the show until Friday of closing weekend, and let me tell you, if you didn't see it you missed a fabulous show. I tend to hold CCT/2FT in higher regard than a lot of amateur/community theatres, and I'm on the board so perhaps I'm biased, but that was one of the most enjoyable nights at the theatre that I've had. I'd like to send out a few particular shout-outs:

Ryan Khatcheressian, you were hilarious. My mom thought you were the funniest thing she'd ever seen, and your ad-lib about "guns are fun!" had me snorting with laughter. (Seriously, I snorted, it was klassy. The K is for Khatcheressian.)

Susanna Todd, not only do you have a helluva voice on you, but you too had me in stitches. I've worked with you before, and seen you in various shows, and while you're always fantastic, I have to say that I think this may have been my favorite role for you yet. How much of that is based on your stellar comedic timing, how much is based on your sensational voice, and how much is based on your awesome '80s bangs, I can't say. But I heart you.

Finally, Michael Schaaff. Oh, Michael. I may have had a minor aneurysm during that show, because of your hi-FREAKING-larious facial expressions. But mostly, way to take one for the team, dude.

For those of you who don't know, Michael did a running-high-kick-leap off the stage on Friday night, landed wrong, and busted the crap out of his ankle. It's still undetermined (to my knowledge) if it's just horrendously sprained or if he actually tore a ligament/tendon (what's the difference between those, anyway?), but he was unable to perform most of his roles Saturday and Sunday as he was in a splint and on crutches (shout out also to Josh Doyle, who covered the role of the Wal*Mart brown-noser). But he made it onstage for his NASA Official scene, turned the splint into a gag, and also made it onstage for the closing number ... where he came out in his rolly office chair and spun in circles for the duration of the number.

Mike is currently off the crutches on into a Robo-boot.

Seriously though, the entire show was excellent, we got great responses from the audiences, and I'm sure everyone is sad to see it end.

We're taking the summer off, so look for us again come fall, when we'll be putting up Six Degrees of Separation. I'll be sure to post information as we get closer to time.

I will take this moment now to say that I can't promise we'll have Update Tuesday all summer long, as we won't have anything to report on, really, but I'll be sure to check in periodically as things happen. We've got some upcoming additions to the company in the form of a new board member and a new baby, but I'm not going to go into details now because I need material for the rest of the summer :)

Actually, at the rate things are going, I could probably post a Baby of the Week. Seriously, what's in the water here in NOVA? Everybody I know is pregnant right now. I have like 14 friends who have either just had a baby or are due in the next eight months. Crazy.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Balloon Dude's First Review!

Kevin reminded me this morning that it's Update Tuesday, and I said it might have to be an Update Wednesday this week, as I wasn't sure how long it would take me to put together a decent post since I was unable to attend opening weekend of the show. All I had to report this morning was that we sold around 200 tickets on opening night -- which is fantastic! But it doesn't make for a very interesting/long post. But well done to the cast and crew for publicizing the show so well!!!

So I'm wracking my brain on the way to work, trying to flesh out "We sold a ton of tickets" into something more, well, lengthy. And I get to the office, and lo and behold, there's a review up already! McCall Doyle has written us a lovely review over at ShowBiz Radio.

Now, I've been getting some grief (mostly from my loving husband!) about how much I link to other sites, so I suppose I should go ahead and post some quotes from the review here so I don't force you all to go to another site to read the highlights. Problem is, every other sentence listed something that someone involved in the show did awesomely, so it's hard to pick just a few highlights and not feel like I'm leaving people out. So here's most of the review, although you can click the link above to read the whole thing (that whole, what, 15 words I didn't include here?).

"[Mark] Gray-Mendes is painfully underused…he was perfectly cast as the sensitive loser, singing with lyricism and depth, but his songs were among the shortest in the show and he spent a lot of time onstage without a whole lot to do. Write his character more songs, please! [Susanna] Todd is a charmer, with a strong belting voice and a perky persona."

"The show was anchored by its two leads, but there were brilliant scene stealers. Ryan Khatcheressian as an egotistical pilot and Rebecca Clary his stewardess bimbette sidekick were hysterical. Khatcheressian has always been known in this area for his vocal prowess, but here he finds the humor in every last aspect of his character and takes it to a new level."

"Cory Okouchi infuses his cameo as Mr. Frankel with life and over the top energy…Josh Doyle as Charles Lindbergh is thoroughly amusing, and Cathy Arnold as Amelia Earhart is a winner. And Lori Staley’s brief turn as the little French Boy is delightful."

"The very functional set (Kevin King) complete with wonderful projections, helps the show along. The lighting design (also Kevin King) is beautiful, with a dreamy, pastel palette."

"The costume design (Jacquin Pierce Allen, Michael Schaaff) was effective and fun ..."

"The surprise second ending (after the curtain call) was the dream child of director Jones … it may have changed the flavor from bittersweet to honey … but was nicely executed by Jen Faulconer."

Well done to the cast and crew!!!